康勇 IN 台湾

Day 45-59: Northern Stars

2008-09-23T23:32:00.003+08:00

: )

"John 14:27
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Day 36-44: Ooh La Ka Koh

2008-09-08T22:00:00.006+08:00

Salutations Subway Sandwich.

Nothing interesting happening..

Other than the fact that my 2nd IC is an evil anal pefectionist.
He wouldn't let me go home till 10:45PM on Thursday 4/9/08 and at 12AM on Friday 5/9/08.
Both of which i had to take a cab home.. *NT$325!!!*
And I didn't eat my lunch/dinner till 1230AM on Saturday 6/9/08.
Which led to minor gastric problems and to double couch potato-ing days to recuperate.

Exact details of those days are much too frustrating to recount now....

But I left the office at 7PM today Monday 8/9/08
leaving behind my companion... who's taking leave tomorrow..

"In the Land of Twilight under the Moon. We dance for the idiots."

BAH. THE COUNTDOWN BEGINS.

Day 35: Dona Nobis Pacem

2008-08-30T22:01:00.005+08:00

Salutations.

The day one decided to forego coach potato law and go exploring, would be the day all one's plans go awry.

It started off lovely. One woke up at 1:30pm with the aching in the shoulder blade reduced to irritable twitches, and was deciding whether I should make a mad rush to the History Musuem that closes at 6 pm, and move around the 中正纪念管 area.

But alas, one read that the Handicraft Market closes at 5pm noticed that it was all the way in the direct opposite direction.
One became concerned over the route one should take as time continued ticking away.

So one decided to split exploring over today and tomorrow.

The handicraft market was lovely.
So many intricate beautiful artworks and sculptures.
I would have taken them ALL home if i could afford it...
Too bad photo-taking was forbidden..
One was pleased that one had moved one's lazy ass out the house then.

So the next stop was to be the 228 Memorial Peace Park. But one was greeted with great surprise.

The streets which were empty before entering the the Handicraft Market Building, were now filled with....

ANGRY PROTESTERS.

One was amused that one was caught in the middle of a Protest!

But amusement quickly faded, As one realised one had to go a whole round about detour, cause the idiots blocked the direct path to the Peace Park.

But the Peace Park was swamped with the Idiot Protesters.
Marring my impression of a peaceful serene park..
** OH THE IRONY OF IT ALL **

One tried to make the best of the day and walked around the park,
Moving in the general direction of my next stop. The Grand Plaza.

But ALAS. The exit gate leading to the Grand Plaza was locked. and Barricades set up.
One was INFURIATED... And gave up. Opting to go home and add that area to explore for tomorrow.

And the MRT was flooded with the idiots too...

Fiddlesticks.

Day 32-34: Alpha Librae

2008-08-29T22:31:00.014+08:00

Saluations.

Work is okae.. Busy figuring things out myself.
But I'm starting to get a serious pain in my right shoulder blade.
My posture at work must be bad..

**BEGIN RANT**
And I am very annoyed at Tawainese Commuters.

- Always rushing in to get a seat..
- Leaning on poles meant for holding. Even IF my hand was already there....
- Stupid vain arses who PREEN non-stop at their reflection in the glass.
- Endlessly touching their hair and clothes..
- Retard men who try to exercise and do chin ups on the bar admist the crowd.
- Even more Retard men who insist on holiding the ceiling and letting the world smell their BO.
- Pretending to sleep when there is an elderly person standing in front of them.
- Talking loudly on their Cellphone..

Especially that retard of a woman who grabbed my arm and pushed me into the train, while I was moving in slowly cause there was a wheel-chair bound lady infront of me.

That sick retard standing opposite me who was stroking his crotch.

The disgusting woman who had to THOROUGHLY excavate her nose for gold over 5+ blatant attempts with her finger all the way in, while i was standing in front of her..

That spineless woman who couldn't stand up straight and leaned on the chair in front of me coming to close for comfort and then suddenly pushing her knee into my leg squeezing me into the bus wall.. and I had to move my leg before she realised she was kneeing someone, and not only did she not apologise? She gave me an angry stare.

So yea. Even though they are trained to line on 1 side of the escalator and line up to enter the train..
Taiwanese commuters still piss the shit out of me.

What social graces? Pfft.

**END RANT**

By the way, If you're keeping up with the US Elections..
Quite a powerful speeches by Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama respectively..
Wonder where Bush is hiding amidst all the harsh criticism of his administration.

If you're interested too, go watch the speech by Joe Biden, Al Gore and of cause, Obama's Nominee Acceptance Speech.

Day 30-31: 素晴らしき新世界::Brave New World

2008-08-26T21:40:00.006+08:00

Salutations 烏龍奶茶!!

Today (26 August) has been the most wonderful day of my SIP yet.
All the Sianess magically Poofed away. :)
Yea. Really unexpected.

When I woke up this morning, I saw a msg from my friend saying
that she was sick and asked me to inform the Supervisor that she
will take a day off..

So hmm I felt crummy at first that i had to go to work alone.
But it acutally turned not only to be fine. But really Great :D

The Receptionist and Girl next to me talked to me alot more today.
And I manage to have a nice chat with my 1st In-Charge Supervisor. :)

So at lunch time, i decided to stay on abit, and then my 2nd IC came to check on my 3D Model after like a whole week or so of being so tied up with his own work and running out to meet clients.

And he only said 3 points needed to be changed, compared to past 3
weeks when he kept giving contradictory advise and never-ending anal nit-picking.

"We can move on to another area tomorrow. Can you finish by 6pm?"

I was so elated. After doing the same thing for 3 weeks.

But the best was later when my 1st IC came over to have a chat with me. She acutally came to apologise to me that they had been so busy lately.. Asking how am i adjusting, was there any problems. ** Talk about humility**

** Which i took the chance to comprain abt the air con spewing
warm air at my corner making breathing and concentrating difficult. **

And she proceeded to see my 3D Model and said it was VERY NICE :D

AHAHA. FINALLY. So then along the chat I admitted to her I was bored and discoruaged with the 3D Model so i modeled a Human face on the side, applying what I learnt from Peng mostly and the Video Tutorial.

"Modeling a Human face is quite difficult, But this looks quite good."

I felt super encouraged. And then!!! The Big Boss decided to treat everyone FREE BUBBLE TEA.

烏龍奶茶.烏龍奶茶.烏龍奶茶.烏龍奶茶.烏龍奶茶.烏龍奶茶.

I hope things get better from here on now :)

Thanks to God for seeing me through
the rough days. And for the great day today :)

**That's my office btw**

Day 19-29: Ciaossu Tiramisu

2008-08-24T16:29:00.015+08:00

Salutations Hiatus.

I've decided to just do my own things at work.
And I need something to break this mononoty.
... Or I could sleep the the next month away.

Decisions.. Decisions..

And to sum up the 11 days with this quote:
"You need to be a human being to be really stupid."

People gathering on the streets to watch Olympic Baseball, Taiwan vs Japan,
Which they lost.. and subsequently to China, Korea and US.

The crowds magically disappeared....

Then another mountain climbing at Ye Liu Nature Park.

And the day of "Supposed Night Market" visiting, but was foiled due to the rain and other unforeseen circumstances.

All the taxis here are yellow. Regardless of company.

And the usual spamming of food follows..
Consisting of Taiwanese "甜不辣/Tempura", Fishballs, Gyoza, Cold Noodles, Individual Steamboat yadadada...

I washed the toilet yesterday yay :D

Day 18: Zephaniah 3:17

2008-08-13T23:12:00.001+08:00

17 The LORD your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing.

Day 17: Under the Sea

2008-08-12T23:18:00.003+08:00

Under the sea we off the hook
We got no troubles
Life is the bubbles
Under the sea
.
.
.
.
Take me with you Sebastian...

Edit: Haha Thanks Dr. Lee Shook Mee

Day 16: I am Melon Lord

2008-08-11T22:40:00.005+08:00

Salutations

At work I battle the urge to ram the keyboard into the monitor.

Time passes way too slowly.

68 days...
1,632 hours...
97,920 minutes...
5,875,200 seconds... more to go :)

Wow that seems really fast :D

DUCK BLOOD CAKE. EWWWWW.. I hated it..

Day 15: Dowisetrepla

2008-08-10T22:13:00.004+08:00

Salutations Slacking/Rejuvenating Day.

Tis the day of the week to honour the Couch Potato Law and
allow for one self to recuperate from the week and vegetate.

And doing so. I have exhausted my supply of "How I met Your Mother".
All 3 seasons. Great show really. Makes the day not so lonely :)

And quote my brother, "Best sitcom since Friends ended."
LEGENDARY HAHA. I encourage all to go watch it @surfthechannel.com
But now I've run out I got nothing to watch :(

And being true to Couch Potato Law,
I had my first "Cup Noodle" since setting foot in Taipei.

And there's work tomorrow. Yay.

Day 14: Be the Love Generation

2008-08-09T21:55:00.007+08:00

Salutations. Wow wee. 2 week of work is over :)

And I shall dub today the greatest day I had in Taiwan so far.
Although I had to drag myeslf out of bed at 8 to take the
Shuttle bus to the MRT Station and ride 14 stops down,
changing trains inbetween, and finally walking to the company.( which is about 1hour++)

To sit there for 3 hours of work...

Why bother even having half work day on Alternate Saturdays?

Anyway, Aunty Isobel (Mum's friend) took me out with her son Henry to Yang Ming Shan.
And met with her Taiwanese friends. Whom I conversed with abit in Mandarin :)
And I finally felt at home with AI and Henry after 2 weeks of being here.

Thank you very much for the wonderful day :)

Yang Ming Shan.

I got carsick here, and really woozy while climbing up.
Guess I have a fear of heights..

Got caught in the rain halfway up the mountain.
And I think i might be getting fever..

New York Cheese Cake :)

I still missing Singapore though..
70 Days to go.

Day 13: Je Ontohin Praan

2008-08-08T01:05:00.003+08:00

Tomorrow I have work.
Bah. Fiddlesticks.

Nice Bengali Poem :)

“Stream of Life”

The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day
runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures.

It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth
in numberless blades of grass
and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers.

It is the same life that is rocked in the ocean-cradle of birth
and of death, in ebb and in flow.

I feel my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world of life.
And my pride is from the life-throb of ages dancing in my blood this moment.

Day 12: Valentines?

2008-08-07T23:44:00.002+08:00

Apparently its Chinese Valentines today. Hmm..
And work is still meh-meh.

Very interesting streets perfomers abound.

Like these popping/locking dancing duo.

And this uncle who has 10++ Golden Retrievers @>@

72 more days to goo~

Day 11: Umbrellas!!

2008-08-06T23:09:00.006+08:00

Salutations Flying Ba Kwa.

Woah. Half-way into Week 2 and work is still meh-meh.

And someone comprain that the post are getting shorter.
So someone agree to buy a puppy for me :) Sponsor $200.
Thank you someone :)

And since work life has been mundane. I shall not with hold all the food pics I have been taking this week.

And to a certain someone else. Please always bring an umbrella with you :)

Day 10: Ashira l'adonai ki ga'oh ga'ah

2008-08-05T22:47:00.004+08:00

Salutations.

Dimly lit Offices is so Depressing.

Dinner, Sleeping are the highlights my days :|
Dinner with Huichii's Mother's Friend and Huichii's Mother's Friend's Friend!

Nachitah v'chasd'cha, am zu ga'alta

Day 9:

2008-08-04T22:48:00.002+08:00

Work was okae. Getting better I hope.

I commuted to and fro work (on time)
All by myself today and didn't get lost.

And i learnt to operate the washing machine.

Yay. One step closer to total self-independance.

75 more days to go.. Wee..

Day 8: My All in All

2008-08-03T19:13:00.010+08:00

Salutations.

Aunty Isobel brought me to church this morning.
Was a rather interesting experience going through
an entire service in chinese. Felt really at peace there,
I think that's what I need to get through this remaining 76 days (Quite fast la).
And Spaghetti for lunch :) Reminds me of that Pastamania Freak heh..

One's spirit was surprisingly much better today.
And filled with such mysterious adrenaline, one decided
that one should take this rare burst of energy and time,
and take the MRT all the way to the end of the line - 淡水.
(Which is 27 stops away from where I was, So its like taking a train from Pasir Ris to Boonlay)

It's a beautiful place. Albeit it being too crowded.
And I had a stomach ache halfway thanks to the tall ice cream
(which tasted terrible, or its fault of the store i bought it from..)
So i left before seeing the sunset :(

As a picture speakths a thousand words... Be forewarned...

Tomorrow is work again ><

Day 7: Claude os, aperi oculos

2008-08-02T21:44:00.003+08:00

I really want internship to end now.

Edit: Since this post is so short I shall take the time to advertise for:
AVATAR: SOZIN'S COMET.
The four-part Series Finale of the super duper uber cool show
Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Do watch its SO GOOD.
Not like the other crappy 2D cartoon shows kids get now-a-days.

Day 6: TGIF

2008-08-01T21:35:00.004+08:00

Salutations Polly the Parrot.

It has been thus a long week. And tiring at that.
I cannot begin to count the number of times i dozed off at work today and had to wash my face.

Today it dawned on me pretty well, exactly how inadequate I really am in using Maya and animating for that fact. It really chips away at your confidence and makes one question whether one has the tenacity and ability to enter such an industry at all?

And I cannot stress enough how nice and kind my supervisor (who looks like Ang Su Yiin, I'm going to get your unglam pic to compare sooon...) is to handle the inadequate one so cheerfully and patiently. One wonders what it takes to be like that.

Why the hell has the school not upgraded to Maya.. it would have made working here so much easier...

On a more happier successful note. I manage to come home all by myself today. :)
This was albeit getting a little lost after alight from the MRT stop.
And to commerate this wonderful self-achivement is this blurry picture.

Much needed sleep and relaxing here I come..

Day 5: Save Me Mister Donut

2008-07-31T23:04:00.006+08:00

Salutations Sushi.
Drink more water please.

Work is still rough. My supervisor looks like my cousin.

And i feel so bad that she is so nice to me, though i keep goofing up.
I skipped lunch to do work. And it ended up with so much problems..

I don't like navigating the streets of Taipei.

Food is still the best.

Arghh..

I want to sleep.

Donuts here are heavenly..

Yea. Save me Mister Donut, Wheverever you are.

Day 4: For One More Crabby Day

2008-07-30T23:15:00.003+08:00

RAWR.

Work stinks.

Day 3: Maya Woes

2008-07-29T22:54:00.006+08:00

Salutations.

I woke up today for the first day of work feeling very "sian" and a little bit homesick.
It is great omen of what was to come.

That's the house I live in. And some random dogs :D

Then my nice hostess Nancy :) bought breakfast for me and we got a ride from her boyfriend to work.
Her office is very near to Bulky. So its on the way :D

That's her by the way.

Cheese and Egg toast + Red tea! :D SUPER NICE. I might start eating breakfast again.

Some roadsights.

And I find myself gettign increasingly car-sick/motion-sick again..

Initially coming to the company was very nerve-wrecking. Alot of the instructions given was in chinese.
And my supervisor and those who were instructing us speak way too fast way too soft and way too much in chinese! @>@

Then we went out to eat at the mini noodle shop. And it was okay, BIG portion really means BIG. Not the pirated kinds you get in Singapore, cheap skate "BIG" Wan Tan Mee which still leaves you wanting more.
I couldn't even finish that bowl

Then came the bombshell. We had to use Maya 2007. Yea lotsa problem ensued. Crabby. And that's all I can say.
Me and Hui Chii had to spend a good majority of the day figuring it out. And there's going to be a review of our progress tomorrow at 3pm. *OH NOES*

After feeeling so Crabbified. I followed Hui Chii and her nice friend, Taylor "Kor Kor" treated us to.....

BEEF NOODLES!!!!!!!!! and some side dishes..

Then we went around random walking, and me worrying about work tomorrow...

Hope tomorrow is a better day...

Day 2: Day of Typhoon

2008-07-28T14:49:00.011+08:00

Salutations.

The sleep was great, and I felt rejuvenated in the morning.

I woke up to loud winds and heavy rain beating agianst the window.

My host family took me out for lunch to a Japanese Resturant. The food there is soo GOOD too..

It was my first time experiencing a Typhoon, the wind was very strong. Felt quite refreshing and cooling acutally.

Then we went into the 7-11 next door.
Haha I find Wang Lee Hom face on the Tea cartons extremely amusing.

Oh yea, the new Taiwan President was about to arrive at the the place we were at, News crew setting up their stuff.
But unfortunately we had to go. Some scenery on the car-ride home.

Back home, I passed the Locking/Unlocking the front door test :)
and I got a better view of the scenery from the living room :)

Typhoon watch on the news.

Think today will be mostly slacking.
Say Hi to Mister Block; My Permanent Companion in my Room during this 84 days :)

**edit**
I'm not feeling too well.. Must be the weather..
went out for a drive to buy food back to cook dinner. :)

Day 1: Touch Down in Taipei

2008-07-27T23:44:00.003+08:00

Salutations.

As the day of flight approached nearer and nearer, the feelings of excitement were quickly being replaced with that of anxiety.

Thanks to those who sent their well wishes, and to my family and the 3 crazy girls who came down to see me off :)
And to yoke ee. Sorry we went in too early!!

It was an interesting experience flying off without your parents.
The moment I stepped in, it was freedom. Very weird sensation.
After buying some chocolates we set off for the flight gate :)

My Dear Friend Hui Chii had forgotten to take out a pair of scissors in her hand-carry bag. :)

The plane ride was rather turbulent, and there was this crazy guy sitting next to me on the plane who kept blowing his nose without a tissue and scratching himself all over... Oh and i watched Prince Caspian on board :D

And as the plane continued to shake and that irritating guy continued to fidget; My headache continually grew.

My Mum's Good friend, Aunty Isobel picked us up. She's a nice lady :) I walked passed her before she put up a piece of paper with my name on it. Then we got a car ride from her husband Uncle Tony to town, where she helped us get our Taiwan Hp no. Free in-coming! Call me if you want! :D

My wonderfully accesorized phone.

And i saw this Ghost at the Taipei Airport:

The resemblance is uncanny.

And then we had dinner with her son. His hair is so long! And apparently its alright for students to leave their hair long! ANd he's a really bubbly character :)

Dinner at a Xiao Chi was GOOOD. Thanks for the treat. They have prata in TW! but they call it something else, and the porridge was a little weird. You're supposed to put sugar into it. My fave was this Beef slice wrapped with prata and spring onions. Heavenly~

And even greater news that night was when Hui Chii called our supervsior, and due to Typhoon warnings, we DON'T HAVE TO REPORT TO WORK TOMORROW!

My headache grew probably from having to process so much chinese in 1 day. Overload..

And my Host family is really nice. Its a really warm homely environment. :)
Thank you Nancy and family :)